final report

Restoring Leopard Frogs and Habitat in Sky Island Grasslands

FINAL REPORT 2010-2013

Purposes of This Report

This report describes the objectives, design, methods, outcomes, and significant findings, regional significance, and currently ongoing status of the FROG (Frog and Fish Restoration Outreach Group) Project. The FROG Project is a National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)-funded program to restore populations of the federally threatened Chiricahua leopard frog (Rana [Lithobates] chiricahuensis) to a large (approx. 444 square miles) landscape in southeastern Arizona. The project is centered at the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (Las Cienegas NCA) and private ranches and other public lands in Empire Valley, Pima and Santa Cruz counties, Arizona. Included are large areas of Coronado National Forest (Coronado NF) in Santa Rita Mountains and Pima County Conservation Lands in Sonoita Grasslands. This work region encompasses the most intact valley wetland spring complex (“cienega”), and the most biologically intact valley-mountain landscape that includes major wetlands, in the American Southwest